The last
eclipse in England was in 1927. For people who were born then and old enough to appreciate
it they are lucky to be witnessing their second without having to leave home. For those of
us witnessing this eclipse we may not be so lucky as the people who witnessed the 1927
eclipse. The next one won't be for another 91 years, in 2090. The sort of date we see in
science fiction films.

Speaking to people who have witnessed eclipses in other
parts of the world they said the things that struck them most were the darkness and
the cold and the quietness. Birds stop singing - treating the eclipse as a short night.

There are some excellent sites around
for informatoin about the eclipse and there will be live internet broadcasts as the
eclipse progresses on its path across the continents. Some will see it better than others
with cloud cover being the greatest threat to spoinling the view. The Uk has a 50/50
chance of not seeing it due to cloud with the middle east having the best chance - rising
to a 90% chance of a clear view at Estahan.

But lets be positive. Let's plan that we will see it and that we will have
to take precautions to protect our eyes. There are many types of spectacles available and
I'm not going to promote any particular sort. These are NOT sunglasses and nobody should
look at the sun with ordinary sunglasses.

There are certain types of film negative which can
work well but please get expert advice before using just any sort of negative.

Perhaps the safest is the projected image of the sun.

To make a simple projection of the
sun - and so of the eclipse - you need two pieces of card.

Make a small hole in one and the second
acts as a screen.

You allow the rays of the sun to pass through the hole of
the first card and the image appears on the second if it is held in the right place.

Move them closer and further apart to change the size of
the image. Having the "screen" in the shade helps in the viewing.

Remember to practice this before the day so that you can
make the perfect viewer in advance. You don't wnat to be messing around and miss the
eclipse!

Below you can see the map of the path
of the eclipse. The darkest band shows the area which will see the eclipse in its totality
- when the sun will appear to go out. The rest of the map (which includes Hillingdon) will
have a partial eclipse at the rate shown in percentages. So we are int he 95% band which
means that we will have between 95% and 99.9%. The closer to the grey band you are on the
day the closer to a full eclipse you will see. Everyone in one of the percentage bands
will see a paartial eclipse and a chunk of the sun will be blotted out.